Shoreham-by-Sea

Page 4

Like all of Britain the weather is highly variable. As warm as any part
of Britain, second to a few areas in the extreme south-west. Warmer in
summer but colder in winter. Mean 1% warmer than Gatwick Airport (altitude
59 metres) on the north side of the South Downs.

Nearby Worthing is arguably the second sunniest resort in Britain with
between 1750 to 1840 hours of sunshine per year. Eastbourne is the other
contender with 30 more hours. Thames Valley = 1500 hours, Scotland
= 1350 hours.

Sea
Temperature 7° C (February) to 19° C (August), surface,
offshore.

Maximum summer shade air temperature = 29° C (my figure)

Average air temperature in July = 20° C

Average air temperature in January = 3° C

Mean Annual air temperature = 10.6° C

Annual variations are considerable.

Prevailing winds: south-west

Rainfall 380 - 1098 mm per year. Large fluctuations. Days
raining = 140-150 (160 inland). January is the worst month with an average
of 15.2 hours, and September the driest with 8.3 hours (1963-72).

January is the worst month for snow lying with a mean number of days
at 5.1 (1963-1972). This is much less than Kent, the county to the east.
When blizzards occur north of the downs, the coastal region at Shoreham
is likely to have a shallow layer only.

Historical
Snippets

AD

457 According to the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (AD 477) three Saxon ships arrived in a part of Britain
which was to be later known as Sussex at a place called Cymenes ora.
King Aelle accompanied by three sons Cymen, Wlencing and Cissa landed from
Gaul (France). In 465 (485) they fought the British at what is probably
a boundary stream called Mearc redes burna *. None of these places
have been identified with modern locations. Later they besieged Anderitum
(now Pevensey) and killed all the Britons living there. The town to the
west of Shoreham is called Lancing from Wlencing,
and a few miles further to the west, Cissbury Ring acquired its name from
Cissa. Evidence of early Saxon (pre AD 500) occupation of the area to the
west of Shoreham is confirmed by barrow burial finds, but the main area
of early Saxon occupation appears to be near Seaford and Pevensey 15 -20
miles to the east. Addenda: towns to the west of Shoreham are especially
numerous with the Saxon ending 'ing'. (* enquire
for toponymic references)

c. 680In the 680s St. Wilfrid,
(exiled Bishop of York) expelled from Northumbria, spent several years
converting the South Saxons to Christianity. At that time their King was
Aethelwalh (from Encyclopaedia Britannica). A Saxon Saint called Cuthman
visited the Adur Valley spreading the word of Christianity (Cheal: History
of Shoreham). Churches
were built about this time, or two or three centuries later (see St.
Nicolas Church).

1066 Norman invasion.
Shoreham (Soreham) in Domesday Book, 1086. Sorham 1073. Soraham 1075. Toponymy.1199 King John landed
at Shoreham with an army and marched to London to be crowned. He succeeded
Richard I.

1205 For three years,
five Royal Galleys were stationed at Shoreham, making it as important as
any Port in England.

1262 Simon de Montford,
Earl of Leicester, in dispute with King Henry III, sails from Shoreham
to France. (In 1264 Simon de Montfort led an army that defeated the King
at Lewes in East Sussex.)

1295 Shoreham was
made a Borough. New Schoreham was also known as Hulkesmouth after the ships
known as HULCS that were the main trading vessels
in European seas during Medieval times. Salt and woollen goods are likely
to have been important exports at this time.

Borough Seal of
New Shoreham. The writing includes the name Hulkesmouth

1347 Shoreham supplied
26 ships of war for the siege of Calais during the reign of Edward III.1404 Shoreham suffered
encroachment by the sea. 1493 is a date when the inroads of
the sea washed away the southernmost part of the town. See Old
Map.

1586 The greatest
part of New Shoreham is ruined and under water.

(Although the residents of
Shoreham did not know at the time, theoretical highest range of tides because
of the alignment of the Moon and Sun in relation ship to the Earth occurs
only every 1600 years with the last maximum around the year 1600. There
were considerable floods all around the south coast of England and in the
Netherlands.)

(The first Spanish Armada
was defeated in 1588 opening the world for trade and commerce for British
merchant vessels. The second Armada in 1597 is scattered by storms.)

1625 -28 Shoreham
was an important port and shipbuilding centre. Ships were built near the
current Norfolk Bridge. Nearby was the George Inn. 21 ships were built
for Charles I. (At the start of the Civil War the English Navy had 82 under
sail).

1651 Royal Escape

After the Battle of Worcester
(3 September), Charles II had to flee from the Cromwellian forces. He eventually
made his way to Bramber were he had to cross the substantial
bridge over the River Adur. The route to the coast then followed the
present hill route from Truleigh Hill to Old Shoreham via Mill
Hill. The story then says he ventured to Brighthelmstone (Brighton)
where he met the skipper of the Surprise, Tattersall, in a pub called the
George. The King and Tattersall and crew boarded the Surprise which departed
from Shoreham (15 October) for Fecamp in France when the tide was right.

1690-96 Seventeen
Men-of-War built for the Royal Navy during these years.

1690-1790 Many
trading vessels avoided import duties during the 18th century, smuggling
the contraband in at night.

1703 A great storm
shattered the town of Shoreham. This major storm of 26 November caused
destruction on the English Channel coast of England killing over 8000 people.A
record in 1760 showed that half the town had been washed away.

1781 The wooden
bridge over the River Adur at Old Shoreham was built, replacing a ferry.
The bridge was rebuilt to a similar design in 1916 and up until 1971 was
the main A27 road for all traffic passing through Shoreham.

1787 (George, the
Prince Regent commissioned the Pavilion in the village of Brighthelmstone,
thus assuring the emergence of nearby Brighton as a premier tourist resort.
He was crowned as King George IV in 1820 and visited Brighton until 1827.
From 1796 to 1815 England was at war with Napoleon and troops were stationed
at Brighton.)1792 A highway robbery
by a Shoreham man named Rook, an accomplice to Howell, on the mail at the
Goldstone Bottom resulted in the execution of the perpetrators by hanging.
The recovery of the bones from the gibbet by Rook's mother, inspired Tennyson's
poem 'Rizpah'.

1807 Turnpike Road
to Bramber and Steyning. 1822 Road to Brighton. 1826 Road from Old Shoreham
to Worthing.

A regular Steam Packet sailed
to le Haura and Dieppe in France. A Custom House was constructed in 1830.
This building which became the Town Hall up to the 1980's is still standing.
(In 1847, nearby Newhaven took over as the cross-channel port of Sussex.)1833 The Norfolk
Suspension Bridge was opened. It was the same design as the famous Chain
Bridge that crosses the River Danube between Buda and Pest in Hungary.
The first Norfolk Bridge was designed by W. Tierney Clarke and Captain
Samuel Brown. It was replaced by a Bow String Girder Bridge in 1922, which
was in turn replaced by a Concrete Box Bridge in 1987.

1840 Railway opened
to Brighton with stations at Shoreham and Kingston. By 1845 a line including
a wooden Trestle Bridge (replaced by current steel bridge in 1911) over
the River Adur was opened. By 1844 trains went to London via Brighton in
2 hours 38 minutes. By 1861 the branch line to Horsham was opened.
From 1879 the direct line to London was opened through the Cliftonville
spur and tunnel in Hove. Kingston railway station closed in 1879.

The line to London was electrified
in 1933.(Semi-fast trains now take
69 minutes to reach London, stopping at Hove, Haywards Heath, Gatwick Airport,
East Croydon, Clapham Junction and Victoria.)

1855 The Canal,
the eastern arm of Shoreham Harbour is opened from Southwick to Aldrington
Basin.

1871 Of the
161 sailing ships registered at Shoreham, 88 had been built there.

1877 The
building of larger steam-driven vessels brought about the end of Shoreham
as a shipbuilding centre.

1880 Steam trams
run from the Swiss Cottage Amusement Park to Hove. After the turn of the
century the steam trams were replaced by horse-drawn vehicles and the tramway
ceased altogether during World War I.

Old
Postcards

Albion Steam Brewery at the east end of High Street

Marlipins building and the George Inn at the end of the 19th century.

1911 Shoreham Airport
opened for flights.

1938 Passenger air
services in operation from Shoreham Airport to Jersey, Birmingham and Liverpool.
The railway station serving the airport was originally called Bungalow
Town Halt (opened 1910), but renamed Shoreham Airport Station (in 1935),
the first station to serve an airport in England, in 1930.

Shoreham High Street
in the 1930's looking west towards an area known as the Ropetackle that
remains undeveloped into the New Millennium. The pub called the King's
Head closed in 1983 and was demolished about 7 years later.

1966 Railway
branch line to Horsham axed, although the line to the Cement Works remained
in operation for freight traffic. The freight sidings to the wharf at Kingston
(River Adur in Shoreham boundaries) closed in 1968.